End Racism This Generation campaign: Access to healthcare - hertfordshire

From the Hertford Mercury

ACCESS to healthcare is among some of the problems experienced by Travellers, according to reports received by GATE (Gypsy And Traveller Empowerment) Hertfordshire.

A couple who did not wish to be identified, Mr and Mrs C, are English Gypsies who have lived on a local authority Traveller site since June 2011.

Having been initially told their local GP surgery was taking on new patients, they returned their completed registration form only to be refused.

They were told: “We’ve had problems before with you lot from the site.”

Mr and Mrs C were very upset by the open racism they received.

They were left with no choice but to register at another surgery more than a mile away from their home – one which they have to use their car to get to, rather than walking across the road to their nearest surgery.

During another instance, in July 2012, a Traveller was refused under similar circumstances.

The Traveller, who we have named D to protect her identity, was also told her surgery was accepting new patients via a phone call.

However, when she attended the surgery in person accompanied by her outreach support worker, D was told they were not taking on any more patients with her surname, a common one within the Irish Traveller community.

The surgery’s assistant manager added that he could not disclose any information, but that the surgery had had a “lot of trouble” with people bearing the same surname as D.

The primary care trust governing the surgery, which has since become defunct, had permitted them to refuse to register any more patients with the name.

Josie O’Driscoll, who lives in Cheshunt and is the chairman of GATE in Hertfordshire, said: “The 2010 NHS constitution states that ‘no-one can deny you the right to access these services because of your race’.

“It also states that ‘reasonable grounds to refuse access to the NHS include violent or abusive behaviour by the patient’.”

Josie added: “This clearly shows that each patient should be considered as an individual and should not be discriminated against because of a family name that affiliates them with an ethnic group.”

Read more about the End Racism This Generation campaign here.